I stopped to watch some fireflies in one of the fields

My god, I miss fireflies. The little blinking lights going off into the distance and under the trees.

Hubby thinks they're a myth. I ignore him and miss my hills.

Hey, Californistas -- how far is Thousand Oaks from LA, and how far is Palo Alto from SF?

Thousand Oaks is at the far end of the Valley, right on the border of LA and Ventura County. I'd say it's about 45 minutes away, depending on traffic.

I would HURT VW and Em's landlords. Also, would've gotten a chain lock long ago.

in this state, if the landlord not only fails to return the security deposit plus interest within 30 days, but also fails to send the ex-tenant an itemized list of damages for which the deposit is being withheld, s/he forfeits all rights to the deposit, even if it turns out that the ex-tenant has trashed the place.

Yeah, in DC they've got 45 days I think, but same law. Also, required to have security deposit in an interest-bearing account...at no less than 5%. Which, when I quoted it to my landlord last month, she was shocked and dismayed at. (I felt bad, because she wasn't actually suggesting what I thought she was, when I informed her of that...I told her she should look and see if they gave some kind of temporary break for the past few years, when NO ONE was earning 5% interest...)

i still want some sympathy on dealing with the unemployment office - 4 years after I should have been done with them.

Paying anyone governmental four years after the fact? SUCKS. Unless you're Marion Barry and owe back taxes you didn't even file. I say smack him.

I thought today was going to suck, as I was 45 minutes late to the site, after getting horribly lost. And then I was super overwhelmed by the amoutn of work to do. But when I went to Chipotle, they gave me my lunch for free! (only slightly less exciting because I would've expensed it anyway). And then I got lots of work done, and then I went shopping....and scored a $20 cashmere sweater at JCrew!!

Rock! The order for D&D miniatures I placed four months ago just arrived! It's very pretty. It has a dragon, a chimera, a balrog and a savage robot. Among other things.

And the new Attenborough special started on Sunday night! (Planet Earth.)

Woot! More DVDs to wait for. And yay for you living the dream, bt!

Good letter, vw, with good edits from others. Go get 'em!

Unless you're Marion Barry and owe back taxes you didn't even file.

I still want a motto option on DC license plates (like "Taxation Without Representation") that says "Bitch Set Me Up."

Yesterday turned out well after getting off to a rocky start. The weather couldn't have been nicer! It's very unseasonal, but I'll take it. Unfortunately, today I am engronkified, as someone called at 3:00 am (drunk dialing and got the wrong number), and I couldn't get back to sleep.

Woot! More DVDs to wait for.

Quite. The first ep opens with penguins (none can resist the Year of the Penguin!) and has continuing amazing footage. There's an Amur leopard, only forty or so left in the world. A slow-mo of a great white shark snaring a seal, hanging suspended in mid-air. You get aerial footage of migrating elephants, a herd of caribou three million strong, a wolf-hunt on said caribou, and also the remarkable strategy of the Cape hunting dog. (Far more effective than lions. Bloody prima donnas.)

The distance of Thousand Oaks from LA depends on the time of day. Time is space, right?

Well, anyway. If you have to go on the 101, the space-time fabric dilates. If I need to get from TO to my very freeway-proximate real-close-to-the-valley-considering home, it takes upwards of an hour and a half at the end of the work day. Getting there at the start of a workday I'd allocate at least an hour.

And that's against traffic, kinda. Unless you drive canyon roads and the PCH, you're going to have to use the 101 to get to LA.

It's a bitch. I've turned down job opportunities in TO because they're too far, even though they're nearer in miles than my current gig. We have a TO office, and offices between TO and my apartment. They're a bitch on the commute.

Off peak hours, I got nothing.

I don’t know that either of them will ever be my “hometown”, but I know I felt more at Home in both of those cities than I ever will in Fairbanks.

I can see this, juliana. I think I'm probably the opposite of you, since I love SF, but couldn't be at home there longterm because there are just too many people there. I'm glad we share Alaska, though!

My god, I miss fireflies. The little blinking lights going off into the distance and under the trees.

One of the few things I miss from CT.

Ow. Fucking ow. UTI. Cystitis, I presume, but haven't had one since I was twelve. OW.

Oh man, Jars, you have all my sympathy.

Is the Cape hunting dog the one that brings food back for mouth-to-mouth transfer to the puppies? Their hunts have like an 80% success rate?

The DH said last night that in his perfect world he'd live in Northern Cal or the Pacific Northwest for spring and summer, and in Virginia/Maryland for fall and winter. I pointed out that would mean no fireflies in summer.